I’m Just Not Ready for Yom Tov to Be Over

I’m always a little sad when Yom Tov ends.

After all the preparing and cooking and rushing, after the meals and the family and the davening, after the sukkah and the arba minim and all those days when regular life somehow feels a little farther away—suddenly, it’s over.

And I’m never quite ready.

After an entire month of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkos, and all the work of Tishrei, I read that Hoshana Rabbah revolves around the feeling that we are missing something—that we still need, still want, still ask.

At first, that sounds strange. After everything we’ve just experienced, shouldn’t we feel full?

But perhaps the wanting itself is part of the point.

When something has really touched us, we don’t walk away saying, Well, that was nice. On to the next thing.

We want a little more.

There’s that beautiful image of Hashem saying at the end of Sukkos:

בְּבַקָּשָׁה מִכֶּם עַכְּבוּ עִמִּי עוֹד יוֹם אֶחָד, קָשָׁה עָלַי פְּרֵדַתְכֶם:

Stay with Me one more day. It is hard for Me to part from you.

Maybe the feeling goes both ways.

Maybe that little ache when Yom Tov ends is something worth holding on to. It means that underneath all the work and noise and preparation, something got in.

I’m sad Yom Tov is over.

And this year, I think I’m a little grateful to be sad.

Chaya & Co.
EVERYWHEN